Octothorpe

John parties, Alison queues, and Liz betrays.

An uncorrected transcript of this episode is available here. Please email your letters of comment to comment@octothorpecast.uk, join our Facebook group, and tag @OctothorpeCast (on Bluesky or on Mastodon) when you post about the show on social media.

Content warnings this episode:

Letters of comment

Andrew January (email)

Chris Garcia (emails)

DC (Bluesky)

Ed Morland (Bluesky)

Henry Balen (Facebook)

Kevin Anderson (Bluesky)

Malcolm Hutchison (Facebook)

Steve (email)

Trish Matson (email)

We also heard from Bridget Bradshaw, Farah Mendlesohn, Ivan Sinha, Jake Casella Brookins, Kev McVeigh, Kin-Ming Looi, Mike Scott, Paul Weimer, Roseanna Pendlebury, Scott Edelman, Shi Lala, and Tammy Coxen

Octocon 2026: Cork and online

Octocon Programme

Bristolcon 2026

Left Handed Giant

The University of Liverpool’s Science Fiction Collection has been awarded Designated status by Arts Council England

Special Collections & Archives: Science Fiction Hub

Cameron Kunzelman in the Ancillary Review of Books on Joanna Russ and archives

“Archiving the Future: Preserving African Speculative Fiction” at LAcon V

Worldcon 2026: LAcon V

<plokta.con> 4

Picks

John: Pandemic Legacy: Season 1

Alison: The Bayeux Tapestry

Alison writes about queues

The copy held at Reading Museum

Liz: Foreigner by CJ Cherryh

Humble Bundle

Swimcast

Credits

Cover art: SKULK! by Sabrina L. Nelson, used under a CC BY-ND licence (original here)

Alt text: A photograph of various fans at LAcon V cosplaying foxes to varying degrees, including John wearing some fox ears and his wife España Sheriff wearing a fox mask. Above, orange text on a white background reads “Octothorpe 169” and below it reads “Foxes skulk at LAcon V”. For some reason, Adobe Photoshop is convinced I’ve used an AI-generated image, but given it’s a photograph and some text Adobe Photoshop can get in the sea.

Theme music: “Surf Shimmy” by Kevin MacLeod (CC BY 4.0)

John is tired, Alison is listening to music, and Liz is catsitting.

An uncorrected transcript of this episode is available here. Please email your letters of comment to comment@octothorpecast.uk, join our Facebook group, and tag @OctothorpeCast (on Bluesky or on Mastodon) when you post about the show on social media.

Content warnings this episode: Clowns (Chapter 1), Hugo Award statistics (Chapter 3)

Worldcon 2026: LAcon V

Hugo Awards

Results

Full Statistics

Administrator’s Report

Hugo Awards Ceremony on YouTube

Southside Symphony

Robert Jackson Bennett on the award speeches

Hugo, Girl!

Program guide

Worldcon Photos on Flickr

Worldcon 2028: Aussiecon 5

Picks

John:

The Prestige by Christopher Priest

The Recollections by Christopher Priest

Alison: Little, Big by John Crowley

Liz: Sublimation by Isabel J Kim

Credits

Cover art: “Love Is In the Air” by IHOP Photographer

Alt text: A photograph of John and Duncan MacGregor taken at an IHOP near the Hilton Anaheim. They are turned to look at each other in a booth. Their facial expressions are difficult to read, but hearts overlay the picture and so we surmise they are in love. Faces of bystanders are pixellated for privacy purposes. Words above the photo read “Octothorpe 168” and below read “Love is in the air at LAcon V”.

Theme music: “Surf Shimmy” by Kevin MacLeod (CC BY 4.0)

John, Alison, and Liz fix the Hugo Awards once and for all.

An uncorrected transcript of this episode is available here. Please email your letters of comment to comment@octothorpecast.uk, join our Facebook group, and tag @OctothorpeCast (on Bluesky or on Mastodon) when you post about the show on social media.

Content warnings this episode:

Letters of comment

Alison: Mike Scott (Facebook)

“How is Inventing the Renaissance an SFF-Related Work?” by Ada Palmer

Liz: Tammy Coxen (Bluesky 1, Bluesky 2)

John: Heather Rose Jones (Facebook)

The Brand-New, Definitely-WSFS-Approved Hugo Award® Rosters!

Alison

Novel: Redefined to be 60,000+ words, awards to author and editor

Dramatic Presentation (Short Form): Redefined to standalone works

Vibes: Best thing that seems like it should be genre but isn’t

New Writer: Redefined as a debut in the last three years, has never won a Hugo Award (!)

Fan: No previous winners, no professionals (with some caveats)

Original Artwork: Flat art and sculpture

John

Game or Interactive Work

Dramatic Presentation (Television): Nominating series, no standalone episodes

Novella: Refined to be up to 60,000 words, awards to author and editor

Related Work: Redefined to render conventions and things that exclusively happen at conventions ineligible

Fancast: It’s perfect just the way it is

Fan Artist: Defined “properly”

Liz

Dramatic Presentation (Moving Picture): Redefined to exclude TV series somehow

Publisher

Neon Hemlock

Haikasoru

Series: Redefined to let series of above a number of volumes on, even under the 240,000 word count (the Nghi Vo amendment)

[I SAID IT AND I MEANT IT—John]

Short Story/Novelette: Redefined to be shorter than 15,000 words, award to author only

Community Benefit: Works by the community which exist to benefit the community

Hugo Spreadsheet of Doom

AO3

Con or Bust

Video Essay: Non-fiction works in video format

Credits

Cover art: “Summer of Fungi” by España Sheriff

Alt text: An watercolour of three pink mushrooms growing on the trunk of a tree. The words “Octothorpe 167” appear at the top, and “summer of fungi” appear at the bottom. The listener is left to discern which mushroom represents which co-host.

Theme music: “Surf Shimmy” by Kevin MacLeod (CC BY 4.0)

John, Alison, and Liz have stopped talking about it now.

An uncorrected transcript of this episode is available here. Please email your letters of comment to comment@octothorpecast.uk, join our Facebook group, and tag @OctothorpeCast (on Bluesky or on Mastodon) when you post about the show on social media.

Letters of comment

Andrew January (email)

Chris Garcia (email)

Dave Langford (email)

Reginald’s Rubaiyat by Saki

Doug Faunt (email)

Nando’s menu

Perrianne Lurie (email)

Simon Bubb (email)

21Moon

Railway Rivals

Trains

Zara Baxter (email)

We also heard from Jesi Lipp, Nicholas Whyte, and Paul Weimer

Worldcon 2026: LAcon V

WSFS Business Meeting recaps

Chris Garcia is running WOOF

John’s programme items

Octocon 2026: 3–4 October

We are online guests! (Blog, Bluesky)

Picks

John: A Thousand Blues by Cheon Seon-ran, translated by Chi-Young Kim

Alison: Spain

Liz: Notes from a Regicide by Isaac Fellman

Credits

Cover art: “Summer of Sun” by Alison Scott

Alt text: A photograph of a total solar eclipse above a beach in Northern Spain. Text reads “Octothorpe 166” in purple at the top and “SUMMER of SUN” in white at the bottom.

Theme music: “Surf Shimmy” by Kevin MacLeod (CC BY 4.0)

Incidental music: “Local Forecast – Elevator” by Kevin MacLeod (CC BY 4.0)

John is big-headed, Alison has a right of reply, and Liz explains how voting should work.

An uncorrected transcript of this episode is available here. Please email your letters of comment to comment@octothorpecast.uk, join our Facebook group, and tag @OctothorpeCast (on Bluesky or on Mastodon) when you post about the show on social media.

Letters of comment

Brian Nisbet (Facebook)

Chris Garcia (email)

Eurocon 2029: Bid for Warsaw, Poland

Constanze Hofmann (email)

ESFS

ESFS statues

Gareth Kavanagh (Facebook)

Ivaylo Alekseev (email)

Leigh Edmonds (email)

Digger by Ursula Vernon

Neil Ottenstein (Facebook)

Renay (Bluesky)

Shi Lala (Facebook)

Alison: Scott Edelman (Bluesky)

We also heard from Constanze Hofmann, Farah Mendlesohn, Ivan Sinha, Jonathan Cowie, Kev McVeigh, Lilian Edwards, and Paul Weimer

Worldcon 2026: LAcon V

The WSFS Business Meeting Agenda

WSFS Business Meeting Recaps from LAcon V

F.7 Limitation on Listed Contributors for Hugo Award Finalists

This was withdrawn by Olav Rokne at the Preliminary Business Meeting

“Role Creep in the Hugo Awards Semiprozine Category” by Tammy Coxen on File 770

“Role Creep and the Numbers Game: A Measured Response” by Kat Kourbeti on File 770

F.8 Purposeful Proportionality

[Alison told me that we should link a CGP Grey video here but then didn’t put it in the show notes, so good luck finding it, listeners—John]

History of Hugo Category Definitions by Tammy Coxen

Unofficial WSFS Business Meeting Browser by Andrew January

Locus

Locus Best Science Fiction & Fantasy of the Year: Volume 1 on Kickstarter

Picks

John: Mothership Companion

Alison: Strange Horticulture

Liz: Moderation by Elaine Castillo

Credits

Cover art: “Stand Up and Be Counted”, found art détourned by Alison Scott

Alt text: 72 assorted LEGO minifigs in a 6x12 grid. Words above read “Octothorpe 165” and below read “WSFS Business Meeting Register: Stand up and be Counted”. The title case on the part of the sentence after the colon is, frankly, bananas, and it certainly isn’t aligned with the Octothorpe style guide.

Theme music: “Surf Shimmy” by Kevin MacLeod (CC BY 4.0)